I come from a short line of teachers as both of my parents were educators: my mother, a third grade teacher at a Catholic private school and my father, a high school business and math teacher. I was raised hearing that school was my job, it wasn’t the teacher’s job to entertain me, and I when I entered the classroom I was to sit down, shut up, and do as I was told.
When I started as a classroom high school English teacher at a comprehensive site, I unknowingly carried these old mores along with me into my classroom and unfortunately for my students, being an engaged learner meant that my students followed these classroom expectations that had been expected of myself.
Thankfully, over the past ten years I have grown leaps and bounds in my learning philosophy. The fact that I'm writing a learning philosophy is key here instead of updating a previously written teaching philosophy.
In the past, I had discipline issues, students didn’t like all of the notes I required, they were bored and came to class to listen to me pontificate the meaning of our current literature we were studying and to drill and kill grammar. My students weren’t learning. They were surviving a regime in my room. Anyone who learned in this environment learned in spite of me and probably would have walked out of any classroom with the same knowledge. Today, my learning philosophy is one that cannot be described as one following one specific popular learning theory; however, it is one that takes a few of them and meshes together to create a rich learning environment for all students to engage and excel.
As with Behaviorists (Skinner, 1976), I believe that there are some times when rote memorization should be used by learners. That being said, it needs to be done in such a way where the learner has autonomy, choice, and control over the drills that are part of their learning. The drills themselves should be meaningful to learners, give immediate feedback (such as a computer or web 2.0 program), used at the learners own pace, and within the setting and time that is preferable to the learner. So, while it is true learners are using rote memorization, it’s being done in such as way that the learners’ needs are the focus here, not the act of the drill itself (Faculty of Education, 2018).
Like Cognitivists, I believe that learners should be develing into assignments and projects that are authentic and have real-world applications. As well, these tasks need to be connected to the learners’ previous knowledge so that it is easy for the learner to engage and connect to class assignments (Theories_Cognitivism, 2018). It is the process of learning that I’m most concerned with, not the end product. I am a mentor to my students and part of my job is to ask questions in order to help my learners refine their thinking and to help them discover where they need to go next in terms of the learning and the tasks at hand (Flippen, 2014).
I believe that learners need to own their learning experiences and be the driving force making choices which steer their learning down their selected path. Learners should be actively engaged and constructing knowledge, not acquiring it.
Constructivist learning, as advocated by Piaget (1960, 1981) and Bruner (1990), posits
that meaning is constructed in the mind of individuals through discovery, with a focus
on the process of assimilation and accommodation of knowledge. Meaning is
perceived as inseparable from one's own interpretation. Its emphasis is not in the interactions of the individual with the environment (including other social beings) but
more on how the mind constructs knowledge (Tang & Hung, 2003).
Thus, this is where I include the Constructivist theory into my learning beliefs. Like other Constructivists I believe all learners should have the opportunity to use: metacognition, self-regulated learning, reading to learn, Problem Based Learning, Project Based Learning, arguing to learn, peer based learning, a Growth Mindset, concept mapping, and Inquiry Based Learning. This list isn’t limited as the Constructivist theory paints a broad swath and the aforementioned list is just a sampling (Theories- History of Learning Theories, 2018).
What’s most important here for me to communicate is my belief that the learner is the center of the learning here, not the teacher. Unlike my time spent in compulsory education where I was told to sit down, shut up, and do as I was told, I believe that my learners will learn best by being the driver in their education, making their own choices, being engaged active participants who connect present learning to the past by constructing new knowledge and experiences that are meaningful while being driven by metacognitive practices.
I also believe that learning is a social activity and incorporate Social Constructivism into my learning philosophy. Using Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), (1978), I create opportunities for my learners to learn from each other, to gain mentorship through myself as their learning facilitator, and see the social component of learning to be of a critical nature for my learners. It is through others that learners can gain skills and knowledge which are internalized and can be used at a later time. In summary, I find that my beliefs align with Tang & Hung's following description:
Constructivist learning encourages the learner to engage in the active process of
meaning construction in real-authentic problems and situations, and where learners are
able to socially construct knowledge with others. Importantly, learning construction can
also facilitated through guidance by more knowledgeable peers or adults, but the
responsibility and ownership for learning must be on the learner (2003).
Because I believe that learners should have significant learning environments where they have choice, ownership, voice, and authentic learning opportunities (CSLE + COVA), I also must include in my beliefs that class size matters to learners and their ability to grow and learn (Harapnuik, 2018). In order for my learners to have access to me as a mentor and guide, they shouldn’t be placed in a learning environment where there are forty of them at once in a class for forty-seven minutes five times a day is the norm. It’s an impossible task to grant learners COVA (Harapnuik, 2018) where a guide and support is available to them with these types of student to teacher ratios (Class size matters, 2019). Therefore, I strongly advocate for small class sizes where learners have access to a learning facilitator who has the time to interact with them on a daily basis.
Currently, I have a disruptive innovation plan that I’ll be using with my learners; it’s the integration of EPortfolios. The creation of EPortfolios allows my learners to: make meaningful connections between their current work, research, discussions, and reflections that tie directly to their past and present experiences, create a living breathing document of one’s personal journey that can showcase learners’ growth, character, and experiences. Through the integration of EPortfolios, my learners will: have choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning projects, they’ll have opportunities to collaborate with peers in the classroom and digitally via finding communities that share the same current interests they have, time for metacognitive activities to guide their next steps, and myself as a learning facilitator to offer support, ask questions, and help facilitate their learning.
It is through disruptive innovation that I can make the biggest impact in my community of learners. My hope is to influence others in my community with my learning philosophy so that they may also move toward playing an integral role in an environment that allows our learners to thrive.
Bibliography
Bates, Tony. (2019, March 17). Retrieved June 15, 2019, from
Berkeley Graduate Division. (2019). Behaviorism. Retrieved June 14, 2019, from
This source gives a historical background of the Behaviorist theory and implications for
today’s teaching.
Class Size Matters. (2019). Fact sheets on class size. Retrieved June 15, 2019, from
This site covers up to date research regarding the benefits of having small class sizes and juxtaposes counterarguments and research and refutes them with current research.
Edublox. (2016, July 08). "Drill and Kill" - Is Learning by Rote an Outdated Technique?
Retrieved June 14, 2019, from
This source explains that even though the practice of drilling information in the
classroom is outdated, research has found that it is the best way to learn such things as
math facts, spelling rules and the like.
Faculty of Education: The University of Hong Kong. (2018). Approaches_Drills and Practice.
Retrieved June 14, 2019, from https://kb.edu.hku.hk/approaches_drills_and_practice/
This source explains the behaviorist theory of drill and practice and how it can be used
in today's classrooms in meaningful ways for our students.
Flippen, C. H. (2014, April). Cognitivism. Retrieved June 15, 2019, from
The author covers cognitivism and applications in educational technology.
Harapnuik, D. (2018, July 14). CSLE+COVA. Retrieved June 15, 2019, from
Dr. Harapnuik explains CSLE+COVA and presents numerous resources to peruse.
Skinner, B. F. (1976). About Behaviorism. New York: Vintage Books.
This book covers the theory of Behaviorism and is written by one of the leading
exponents of the learning theory.
Tang, S. C., & Hung, D. (2003). Beyond information pumping: Creating a constructivist
e-learning environment. Educational Technology, 42(5), 48-54.
The article’s focus in on Constructivism in an e-learning environment. The authors
come to the conclusion that social constructivism approach is best in an e-learning
environment.
Theories_Cognitivism. (2018). Retrieved June 15, 2019, from
The site covers the history of learning theory of cognitivism including basic assumptions
and principles as well as classroom implications. The site focuses more on memory and
the “cognitive load” for students.
Theories_History of Learning Theories. (2018). Retrieved June 15, 2019, from
This site has a nice chart and breakdown of some of the main learning theory’s tenets.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes,
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky explains in this book what constitutes Social Constructivism and covers his
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
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